British yoga instructor mutilated by prop - Cozumel

[John the Pom]

A lot of my dives are in Coz and quite a few of them way up north or in heavy waves and/or currents. I have seen several divers, including my own wife, come within 5’ of a moving prop while they were barely under the surface or in some other setup all while the cpt was totally unaware because of rough conditions.

A moving prop is probably my #1 fear while diving and is constantly on my mind. Constantly.

I always appreciate boats that have the round circular cover that goes around the prop blades. I think all boats should be required to have them and wonder if this boat had one. I have no idea what they are called or how they effect engine performance/etc or if there is something better/safer but I think the issue is one that warrants our upmost attention.

In my younger days, I was a volunteer life saver on the beach, where we had a RIB on standby. Because you were dealing with a beach zone with swimmers, the engines were fitted with a prop guard. I guess it would cause some loss of efficiency that would be significant for longer trips, but it allowed us to operate much more safely with swimmers around.

 

[DandyDon]

prop guard.

There is a very long list of objections available. Probably the one that kills the idea the most is it costs more to operate the boat. See Propeller Guards: Objections

 

[NW Dive Dawg]

If you look at the pic below of my boat you can see that I have a prop guard on my auxiliary kicker motor. I also have a rear cockpit steering and full throttle and shifter control station so that I can operate everything from the dancefloor and better keep an eye on divers either entering or exiting the water. When operating with divers in the water, I'm on the kicker if needing to maneuver. I also leave the main shutoff but down as it serves as an additional buffer between the dive ladder and kicker. The prop guard is there as an additional safety only and does not in any way represent any option to operate in gear with anyone in the water near the boat.

One other thing I wanted to mention is that "reverse" gear should never be used with divers in the water. Always better to just go around. The incident on this thread does not clarify or indicate if reverse was used.......but I can say with certainty that operating in reverse significantly increases risk. Last thing is that I always use a 20ft tag line with a small marker buoy and have divers use it and approach the dive ladder one at a time.

 

[Billg68bg]

Not trying to seem unsympathetic and far be it from me to second guess a decision on a situation I didn't witness, especially with my limited experience, but wouldn't the responsible, safe, thing to do be to attract the attention of someone on the boat, from a reasonably safe distance, rather than attempt to board a boat that nobody onboard knows you're trying to board?

 

[also_anon_dc]

I'm curious about that two-inch arterial blood clot that allegedly prevented her from bleeding out. Seems odd for a healthy and active 37-year-old yoga instructor jet setter active in all sorts of activities. I've had a few later in life, but they caused me enough problems to seek medical advice and treatment.

You, and other curious men, should read up on how common it is for hormonal birth control to cause blood clots in healthy, active, young women. I speak from experience.

 

[DandyDon]

You, and other curious men, should read up on how common it is for hormonal birth control to cause blood clots in healthy, active, young women. I speak from experience.

I have been aware of BC pills risk of clots for over 50 years. I hope you got good treatment for yours. I have another procedure scheduled next week.

 

[MidOH]

PARTIAL DELETION BY MODERATOR

I'm a rated driver for competitive waterskiing and in the event that you're picking up a downed skier, YOUR ENGINE IS OFF. OFF. NOT IDLING. OFF.

Even if the wind is going to beach the boat - the engine is OFF.

That being said, 95% of this thread is PURE SPECULATION and WORTHLESS garbage.

Pray the lady fully recovers and....

Next topic....

What? Whaaaat?

Engines on, props spinning under the boat, on the boats I was boarding. As long as they don't reverse, you just get blown away.

Music on as well.

PDC is worse. Outboard engines, props screaming in the air. The line guy has to dodge them. It's insane. Usually those are engine off for boarding, except for the expendable line and tank guys.

 

[Tritip]

Instead of prop guards which reduces efficiency, can’t there be a funnel like device fitted so behind is just a jet stream while in front is well under or in middle of boat

 

[clownfishsydney]

Instead of prop guards which reduces efficiency, can’t there be a funnel like device fitted so behind is just a jet stream while in front is well under or in middle of boat

No, will not work.

 

[rjack321]

I was at a diving boat at the ladder at the stern. It seems it will only push a diver away how can you get sucked to it?

There are LOTS of ways to contact a prop. Depending on which side of the prop the ladder was on, and whether the prop was left hand or right hand revolutions, and whether the prop was actually behind the transom and ladder, or in front of it. Basically, there are as many "in" forces towards the prop as there are "out" forces away from it.